SEYMOUR, Ind. – An Indiana man refused to call 911 as his 8-year-old son suffered for hours and finally died after mistaking meth for breakfast cereal, according to court documents.
Curtis Collman II, 41, faces numerous counts that include neglect of a dependent causing death, pointing a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and intimidation. after police say his son, Curtis Collman III, ingested a large amount of meth.
Court documents show Collman II first noticed there was something wrong with his son on the morning of June 21. The child woke Collman II up because he was hungry, but Collman II said they didn’t have any food and went back to sleep.
The next time he woke up, Collman II said the boy was “not acting right.” He was “twitching and bouncing his face off the floor,” Collman II said. He tried to hold him down, but the boy kept “grabbing his face and (was) scratching his own face.”
Collman II called a friend around 10 a.m. and told her his son was “not acting right,” and he needed her help immediately. When she arrived around 10:50 a.m. she said the boy was having trouble seeing. She told Collman II they needed to call 911. But when she mentioned calling for help, he “ripped” the phone out of her hand, pointed a gun at her and said he “would kill all three of them.” She left immediately out of fear for her life.
Collman II was screaming hysterically when he took his son to his mother’s house around 1 p.m. His mom wanted to call 911 for help, but Collman II wouldn’t let her, prosecutors say. Jackson County dispatch later received a 911 call about a boy not breathing around 1:47 p.m.
Collman II left the residence when 911 was called.
The boy was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police later tracked down Collman II, and he was arrested for failure to register as a sex offender. He was transported to the sheriff’s office for questioning.
Investigators asked Collman II what his son could have ingested at his apartment. Collman II said there was meth on a plate, but he thought he hid the meth. According to court documents, he told police his son probably got into the bleach or Pine-Sol he uses to clean the bathroom.
When asked why he didn’t call 911, Collman II told police he panicked.
A toxicology report obtained by the Associated Press reveals the boy had more than 180 times the lethal limit of methamphetamine in his bloodstream when he died.